Wall or closet bed.



J. D. BELL.

WALL 0R CLOSET BED. APPLICATION FILED SEPT-22. 191s. RENEWED OCT. 3!, 1914.

1,1 89,342. Patented July 4, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- .I. D. BELL.

7 WALL 0R CLOSETBED. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 22. 1913. RENEWED 00?. 31. m4.

Patented July 4, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

"TITVENTOR.

ATTORNEY Y .fiaseb/l 3.34911 BY Mkflw WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT orr'ros.

J'OSEPH D. IBELL'OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

WALL OB CLOSET BED.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 4., 1916.

,lpplieation filed September 22, 1913, Seria1 No. 791,049. Renewed October 31, 1914. Serial No. 869,714.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JosEPH citizen of the United States, residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new a recess or'a closet or attached to a door,-

panel, or other closure of a closet, or to an arm or frame extending from a closet, or, in

its simplest mode of use, it may be directly secured to a floor, adjacent to a wall of a room.

The object of the inventionis to provide a bed of this character which will be simple,

' and therefore economical, in construction;

easily, rapidly and conveniently movable into the position of use or disuse; which.

will occupy very little floor space when not in use; which will be adjustable for any weight of bedding; which, when in the position of use, cannot without close inspection be seen to be other than an ordinary bed; which does not require the use of heavy balancing weights, greatly increasing the cost of transportation; and particularly one which can be transported with the parts assembled ready for use, all that is required being to secure it to a floor or other support,

which can be done in a very short time by an inexperienced person.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a front view of my improved bed in an upright position; Fig. 2 is a side view of the same; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, except that the bed'is lowered to the position in which the counterbalance springs begin to operate; Fig. 4 is a side view of the bed fully lowered; Fig. 5 is an enlarged plan view of a balancing device; Fig. 6 is a vertical section of the same on the line 66 of Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a sectional view showing a detail; Fig. 8 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 9 is a sectional View showing a modified form of casting. l Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates supporting. means for the bed comprising two castings which are secured by screws 2 to the floor of a room, and from which rise apertured lugs 3, and standards 1 having flanges l). BELL, a

5 extending toward each other.- Said lugs 3 form end bearings for trunnions 6 of a head support carrying means 7, comprising lower and upper horizontal members 8, 9, upright inwardly extending flanges 5. The upright members 10 are formed at their upper ends to provide bearings 11 for a horizontal shaft 12, the ends of which are received in sockets 13, clamped around the tubular side bars 14 of the bed frame, the ends of said side bars being received in socketed ends of castings 16, which have thereon studs 17 by which are attached head and foot angle-lrons 18 extending transversely of the bed, to which angle-irons are connected at suitable intervals the springs 19 of the Wire mattress. Secured to said socketed ends by nuts 20 and bolts 21, of which .the heads are contained within the tubular side bars, and which pass through aperturesin said ends, are apertured ends of brackets 22, the outer ends of which are reduced in thickness, and. on

which are pivoted, as shown at 23,, the

forked upper ends of the head and foot legs 24, 25 of the bed. To the outer ends of'the brackets 22at the foot .of the bed are secured the end members of the foot piece 27, and in said ends at the head of the bed are formed sockets 28, to partly receive the outer ends of levers 29, pivoted, as shown at 31, to the.

side bars 14 of the bed, and to which outer ends are rigidly secured the end members of the head piece 32, said sockets being provided to-allow the lower ends of said end members to rest upon the outer ends of the brackets. To mediate points of the levers 29 are connected ends of links 33, the other ends of whichare connected to the legs 24: at the head of the bed, so that, when said levers 29 are swung from the position shown in Fig. 2 to that -shown in Fig. 4, by the same movement said legs are swung from a horizontal to a vertical position'inline with the end members of the head piece 32. Said head piece is retained in the horizontal position shown in Fig. 2 by a latch bar 34, pivoted to a side bar of the bed frame, and having a hooked outer end which engages a pin 36 on an end member of the head piece. V

For the purpose of balancing the weight of the bed, there are provided springs 37, coiled around a tube 38 around the shaft 12,

60 slde members 10, and rearward extensions 15, havlng at the bottom outwardly extend-' mg flanges or ribs 25 which can engage the.

and between the bearings 11, the adjacent ends of each spring being inserted in holes in a circular flange 39 formed integral with said tube 38, and located centrally between the upright members 10 of the head support, from which flange extends an arm 41, the outer end of which is secured to the angle iron 18 at the head of the bed by means of a bolt 42 passing through said angle iron and then through a slot 43 in said arm, a nut 44 being secured upon the outer end of the bolt. The other ends of the coiled springs are inserted in holes in plates having ratchet teeth 46 and which loosely surround the shaft 12 between the inner surfaces of the bearings 11, and the ends of the tube 38. Pawls 47 can engage the teeth of the se,,- mental rack and prevent any rearward movement which might be caused by the tension of the coiled springs. These pawls 47 are loose pieces formed on their under "sides with concavities 48 (see Fig. 6 which- "'can rock on round bosses 49 formed integral with the upper cross member 9 of the head support. Each pawl has a tail 51 which, by its greater weight than the nose of the pawl, keeps saidno-se in engagement with a tooth of the corresponding ratchet segment. The tension of either spring can be varied as desired by turning it so as to cause the pawl to engage a different tooth.

In lowering the bed from the sition the tension of the springs 37 is not increased until the flanges 25 impinge against the flanges 5. Until that occurs the.

tension of the springs 37 merely causes the head support to swing outward with the bed about the trunnions 6 as axis. But when the head support can no longer swing outward by reason of the abutment of vthe flanges 25 against the flanges 5, the bed is then swung outward upon the shaft 12, and by this movement the coiled springs 37 are contracted around the tube 38, and their tension is increased. As the bed is lowered the legs at the foot of the bed remain vertical, and the bed rests on said legs and on the head support. The latch bar is removed from the head piece and the head piece is then raised, thereby moving the legs at the head of the bed into a vertical direction in line with the end members of the head piece.

It will be seen from Fig. 4 that the lower ends of said legs do not, when extended to this position, come in contact with the floor, and therefore do not ordinarily support the bed, but they are of utility in forming a safety device, for preventing the bed tilting upward from the foot about the shaft 12 on account of excessive tension of the counterbalance spring, and thus assure timid occupants that the bed is absolutely safe when extended. It will be observed that unless the legs are in this position insuring safety, the head piece prevents the bed being occuupright po pied. In addition to the practical utility of theselegs at the head of the bed, theyare of value in imparting to the bed a. harmonious or symmetrical appearance and preventing it from having an unusual or unstable appearance.

56 indicates sheet metal holders, bent to conform in general to the cross-sectional form of the angle-irons, and-to closely surf round the same to slide thereon, and having portions 57 bent outward from the outer member of the angle iron and formed with apertures 58, so registering with one another, that the straight portions of fingers 59, which hold down the edges of the mattress, can pass through said apertures. Heretofore it has been required to form holes in said angle irons to attach thereto the clamps for holding said fingers. In my invention this construction is no longer required.

In-the modification shown in Fig. 9, the casting 1 has upright extensions 53, having screw holes 54, by which they may be attached to a door or panel, or the end of a movable arm or frame which can be moved out of a closet, instead of being fixedly attached to a fioor. In other respects, the construction and mode of use of the bed remain the same. j

Several advantages possessed by my improved bed appear at once from the description thereof. 'In addition it may be stated that the bed is'very simple and economical in construction, since it consists mainly of an ordinary stock bed already on the market, the changesv and additions to be made thereto being very simple, and the amount of hand labor expended upon each bed beingvery small. A further very important advantage isthat the bed is very well adapted for transportation and sale in places remote from the factory, for two reasons, first, that the use of the balancing springs avoids heavy balancing weights and the cost of .are less contracted than they would otherwise be since they contract while the bed is swinging to the horizontal position only from the position shown in Fig. 3 instead of from that shown in Fig. 2. Again, since the head support 7 swings outward, it can be made longer and still support the be'd'at the same height, and in consequence the axis of rotation of the bed, in swinging from the position shown in Fig. 3 to the position shown in Fig. 4, is nearer the center of gravity than before, and consequently the tension of the springs to counter-balance the weight of the bed, as also the force required to lift the bed, can be reduced. It is an obvious advantage to have the head of the bed moveoutward when it is lowered, and

especially when the bed is contained in a closet or recess.

I claim 1. The combination of means for supporting a swinging bed tween the side lines of the bed and provided with means for immovably securing it against rotation about a horizontal axis, carryingmeans likewise located wholly between the side lines of the bed, and ivoted to said supporting means to rock a out a horizontal transverse axis, a bar carried by the upper portion of said carrying means and extending transversely beneath the bed and between the head and foot thereof and on which the bed is supported, and a spring coiled around said bar and arranged to be compressed by the lowering of the bed.

2. The combination of an upwardly extending support for a bed, ournals arranged to be secured to the floor, said support having trunnions in said journals by which the support can rock about a horizontal axis through the journals, said journals having flanges and the support having flanges arranged to engage the journal flanges and arrest the rocking movement of the support, abar horizontally pivoted in the upper portion of said support, a bed frame supported by said bar, and a spring coiled around said bar, of which one end is movable with the bed and the other end is sustained by said support.

' 3. The combination of an upwardly extending support for an end of a bed,'pivots, said support being movable about a horizontal axis through the pivots, flanges rigidly connected with said pivots and the support having flanges arranged to engage the first named flanges and. arrest the swinging movement of the support, a transverse bar horizontally pivoted in the upper portion of said support, a bed frame supported by said bar, and a spring of which one end is movable with the bed and the other end is sustained by said support.

4. The combination of a support for an end of a bed having bearings in its upper portion, a bar rotatable in said bearings, a

bed frame of which said bar forms a part,- a tube around the bar between said bearings, coiled springs around said tube, means on the central portion of said tube for holding adjacent ends'of said sprin their-other ends being sustained by sai support, and

located wholly be-' 5. The combination of a support for an end of a bed having bearings in its upper portion, a bar rotatable, in said bearings, a

7 bed frame of which said bar forms a part,

" a tube around the bar between said bearand said bearings, and having ratchet teeth, pawls movabl carried by said support and engaging said ratchet teeth, coiled I springs around said tube,= and means, on

the central portion of said tube, for holding bed frame supported by said bar, a tube "ings, plates between the ends of the tube.

around the bar between said bearings, a I

collar on the central portion of said tube, coiled s rings around said tube on opposite sides 0 said collar, the adjacent ends of.

said springs being secured to said collar,

support, and a bar extending from the collar to the bed frame.

and the other ends being sustained by said 7 In a bed of the character described, the

combination of side bars forming a part of the frame of the bed, brackets at the head of thebed each secured at one end to a side bar, their other ends having sockets on the upper sid'es, levers ivoted to said side bars the outer ends 0 ceived in said sockets, and a head piece, the end members of which are secured to said outer ends. i

'8. In a bed of the character described, the combination of side bars forming a part of the frame of the bed, brackets at the head of the bed each secured at one end to a side bar, their other ends having sockets on which are rethe upper sides, levers pivoted to said side the other ends of said links are connected,

the parts the outer ends of said levers rest in said sockets, said legs are in alinement with saidend members.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribmg witnesses.

JOSEPH n. BELL.

Witnesses:

.Fmncrs M. WRIGHT,

.D. B. Rrqmnns.

being of length such that when 7 

